As wildfires raged out of control in the Los Angeles area on Wednesday, consuming more than 28,000 acres of land, destroying thousands of homes and buildings, including entire neighborhoods, and killing at least five people, President-elect Donald Trump, his MAGA acolytes, right-wing commentators, conservative media outlets, and far-right conspiracists blamed it not on climate change or eight months without rain, but on wokeness.
Trump, who supports a huge expansion of fossil fuel extraction and use, which scientific consensus connects directly to the increasing prevalence of extreme weather events: he used the unfolding tragedy to attack his longtime enemy, California Governor Gavin Newsom. He claimed that Democrats’ embrace of environmental issues was to blame for the Los Angeles Fire Department’s (LAFD) inability to contain what is already the worst fire in California history.
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration presented to him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and northern snowmelt, to flow daily to many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning. in a practically apocalyptic way,” Trump wrote in Truth Social. “He wanted to protect an essentially useless fish called smelt by giving it less water (didn’t work!), but he didn’t care about the people of California.”
The governor’s press office. issued a statement On Wednesday he criticized Trump’s comment, noting that “there is no document like the water restoration declaration; “That is pure fiction.”
Democrats’ embrace of so-called woke politics has become a multipurpose bogeyman for the right in recent years. Just as previous generations blamed political correctness and affirmative action for various problems after major events like the assassination attempt on Trump last July and the Baltimore bridge collapse last March, they now routinely blame wokeness and diversity. , equality and inclusion (DEI).
“Can we change the name from DEI to DIE since that’s what seems to happen to people after those who place woke virtue far above competence?!?” Donald Trump Jr wrote in Truth Social on Wednesday.
Elon Musk, Trump confidant and centibillionaire owner of
“DEI means people DIE,” Musk wrote in one post, while many other posts featured criticism of LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley, a 22-year veteran of the department who was praised for saving nine homes from total destruction during the 2018 Woolsey Fire with his wife.
Crowley is the first woman and first member of the LGBTQ community to serve as fire chief in Los Angeles.
Musk shared a post from Chaya Raichik, the woman behind the Hate-filled anti-LGBTQ account LibsOfTikTok: “Meet Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley. She boasts of being the first LGBTQ woman and fire chief in the Los Angeles Fire Department. Promoting a culture of DEI is your priority. Does this make you feel safer? The post has been viewed more than five million times.